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Saturday, 3 November 2012

Poistcards from Flanders - Military Monday

Long term readers of my blog will know how much I like to mark the month of November by thinking of Remembrance Day and paying tribute to our ancestors who fought in war.

Here, in the first of a series, I feature the cards in my family collection, most of them sent back by my grandfather William Danson (to his family back home in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. Below William and his family - his wife Alice, daughters Edith and Kathleen (my mother), Harry and baby Billy - photograph taken 1916.

Below: A card sent to my Aunt Edith. I have always known the dried flower pansies to be inside the card..

Dear Edith, I am sending you a card and hope you like it.

I am allright. Look after mother and baby. From your Dad.

This is a card sent to my mother (Kathleen Danson)

for her nineth birthday on September 8th.

The message in pencil is difficult to decipher.

A card sent to baby Billy Danson from "His loving Dad".

My grandfather was a tacitturn labourer so this card below, sent to his wife Alice, showed a much more emotional side, though the message below is quite prosaic,

Dear Alice, received your letter all right. I have landed back at the Batt and am in the pink. I have had a letter from Jennie (Wiliam's sister) and am glad they have heard from Tom. Your loving husband, Billy XXX

Cl.ick here to read on the BBC history website the history of these special cards

During WW1 silk postcards and handkerchiefs were bought as souvenirs by soldiers who were serving on the Western Front. Local French and Belgian women embroidered the different motifs onto strips of silk mesh which were sent to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards. There were two kinds of cards, one was a piece of embroidered silk mounted onto a card and the other was two pieces of silk sewn and mounted to form a pocket to contain a message or a silk handkerchief. It is an example of an industry which appeared as a result of war and must have been a useful source of income for families in France and Belgium.

About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.